2105. EVANGELICAL REFORMERS. 471
spiritual and evangelical type of religion. In this they differed from the rationalistic and destructive iconoclasts of the East. They were influenced by the writings of Paul and Augustin, those inspirers of all evangelical movements in church his tory ; with this difference, however, that Paul stands high above parties and schools, and that Augustin, with all his anti-Pelagian principles, was a strong advocate of the Catholic theory of the church and church-order.
AGOBARD (in Lyonese dialect Agobaud or Aguebaud), a native of Spain, but of Gallic parents, and archbishop of Lyons (816-'841), figures prominently in the political and ecclesiastical history of France during the reign of Louis the Pious. He is known to us already as an opponent of the ordeal, the judicial duel and other heathen customs.1 His character presents singu lar contrasts. He was a rigid ecclesiastic and sacerdotalist, and thoroughly orthodox in dogma (except that he denied the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures) ; but, on the other hand, a sworn enemy of all superstition, and advocate of liberal views in mat ters of worship.2 He took part in the rebellion of Lothaire against his father Louis in 833, which deprived him of his bishopric and left a serious stain on his character, but he was afterwards reconciled to Louis and recovered the bishopric. He opposed Adoptionism as a milder form of the Nestorian heresy. He attacked the Jews, who flocked to Lyons in large numbers, and charges them with insolent conduct towards the Christians. In this he shared the intolerance of his age. But, on the other hand, he wrote a book against image-worship.3 He goes back to the root of the difficulty, the worship of saints. He can find no authority for such worship. The saints themselves decline it. It is a cunning device of Satan to smuggle heathen idolatry into the church under pretext of showing honor to saints. He
1 See g 79, p. 347.
2 Renter (1.24) calls him "the clearest head of the ninth centnry," and "the systematizer of the Aufklarung" (i. e. of Rationalism in the middle age;.
* De Imayinibus Sanctorum, in Migne, vol. 104, fol. 199-223.
472 FOUETH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
thus draws men away from a spiritual to a sensual worship. God alone should be adored ; to him alone must we present the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart. Angels and holy men who are crowned with victory, and help us by their interces sions, may be loved and honored, but not worshiped. " Cursed be the man that trusteth in man" (Jer. 17 : 5). We may look with pleasure on their pictures, but it is better to be satisfied with the simple symbol of the cross (as if this were not liable to the same abuse). Agobart approves the canon of Elvira, which forbade images altogether. He says in conclusion: " Since no man is essentially God, save Jesus our Saviour, so we, as the Scripture commands, shall bow our knees to his name alone, lest by giving this honor to another we may be estranged from God, and left to follow the doctrines and tradi tions of men according to the inclinations of our hearts." 1
Agobard was not disturbed in his position, and even honored as a saint in Lyons after his death, though his saintship is dis puted.2 His works were lost, until Papirius Masson discovered a MS. copy and rescued it from a bookbinder's hands in Lyons (1605).
CLAUDIUS, bishop of Turin (814-839), was a native of Spain, but spent three years as chaplain at the court of Louis the Pious and was sent by him to the diocese of Turin. He wrote prac tical commentaries on nearly all the books of the Bible, at the request of the emperor, for the education of the clergy. They were mostly extracted from the writings of Augustin, Jerome,
1 Cap. 35 (in Migne, fol. 227) : " Flectamus genu in nomine solius Jesu, quod est super omne nomen; ne si cdteri hunc honorem tribuimus, alieni judicemur a Deo, et dimittamur secundum desideria cordis nostri ire in adinventionibus nostris " Gieseler directs attention to the verbal agreement between Agobart and Claudius in several sentences.
2 See Acta SS. Jun. II. 748, and the Elogia de S. Agobardo in Migne, fol. 13-16. The Bollandista honor him with a place in their work, because Masson, the first editor, allows him the title saint, and because he is commonly called St. Aguebaud in the church of Lyons, and is included in the local martyrologies. A rite of nine lessons is assigned to him in the fireviarium Lugdunense.